


Let Down Your Red Hair

by jonsafan



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Epic Poetry, F/M, Free Verse, Poetry, Verse Novel, alternative universe, fairy tale, rapunzel - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-20 20:17:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17628971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonsafan/pseuds/jonsafan
Summary: A Jonsa Rapunzel story told in verse. With her father beheaded and her brother marching against the king, the last thing Sansa expects is for her hair to never stop growing. She is soon locked away in the tallest tower of the Red Keep, withdrawn from court as the War of the Five Kings rages on. Elsewhere, rumors of her magical hair have spread to the Wildlings, who see her fiery strands as their last hope against the coming winter.





	1. The Northman's Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> I’m going to be honest with you: I have no idea where this came from, but I’m certain it has something to do with the fandoms fascination with Jon’s attraction to red hair. Also, I’m feeling Lady of Shalott vibes, so I'm just going to go with it.
> 
> Each chapter will be divided into a canto, which are individual poems to a longer narrative poem.

The Northman’s daughter would never admit  
she almost escaped King’s Landing. 

After her father was beheaded,  
the Lady Sansa walked the streets behind the king  
and the city fell apart at the seams.

The castle had never seemed so far,  
and the people so cruel,  
but fists became bloody  
and knives sharp.

There was a moment before where Sansa was almost free,  
but then she became the little bird trapped in a cage.  
Yet on that day, in that violence,  
Sansa felt her wings beat against the wind.

Like a raven with words of spring  
she ran into the dark alleys.  
Her dress the color of her cheeks  
became like night in the shadows  
and she disappeared.

But she was found in the silence,  
and the rough men of a rough city  
called her name.

Her hair was the color of fire,  
and she lit the way.


	2. Heart of Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa's escape does not go as planned.

A spark against cobblestones,  
and Sansa looks back,  
feeling as if her hair has become flame.

But standing in the darkness is a woman  
of foreign voice, like the crackle of a fire.  
Borne on her chest is a burning heart;  
she is a woman of R’hllor.

Milady, the woman says,  
bowing to the Northman’s daughter,  
Come this way. 

Sansa sees the leers of haunted men,  
and follows the woman inside.

They step into a shanty  
with rows and rows of powders and potions. 

Sansa can feel heat,  
especially in the shadows.

The lie comes easy;  
I was watching the King,  
Sansa said, and then there was a riot.  
Please help me get to the docks.  
My father is waiting for me. 

But of course he was not.  
Eddard Stark was dead. 

And the woman knows this,  
because she smiles at the Northman’s daughter,  
whispering she would be going back to the castle  
with the swords beset by fire  
in the end.


	3. The Arson of Liberation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The woman gives Sansa a gift... or a curse.

The woman laid her hands  
on the Northman’s daughter,  
grasping strands of hair.

Her auburn tresses  
fell free from their summer crown.

Sansa’s hair came alive  
like coals in an open fire  
tendered by the warmth  
of a flame.

She screamed,  
and ran from that place,  
down the alleys  
like a torch in the night,  
but it was day.

Men chased her beauty,  
enchanted by a fire they could not see.

She was almost taken then,  
her flame captured  
and gasping for air. 

But she was retamed by lions,  
and taken back to their den.


	4. Birds of a Feather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon meets Ygritte and is reminded of someone he knows.

The Men of the Night’s Watch  
come upon the wildlings and their frozen nest.  
Like birds, they scatter,  
and Jon Snow reaches out with his sword  
to strike a small snow bunting. 

The mottled feathers come undone,  
and she sacrifices herself upon the flame,  
yet she is alive, so very alive,  
and the only bird left free. 

He stills his sword.  
Steel sings in the sun,  
the chill echoing a melody.  
  
She lays in the fire,  
and the crow does not burn  
as he stands over her  
with his sword drawn. 

A wild woman, Jon knew,  
could be as ravenous as a man  
beyond the wall, beyond the law.

But all he sees when he looks down  
is a girl with red hair like the sister  
trapped in the tower.

He wanted to forget his past life  
before he shed his grey feathers  
and became a crow,  
but now he is by the hearth  
and he feels home.


	5. Purity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The color of each season is important.

The man who passes the sentence  
must swing the sword,  
but all Jon can do  
is carry a memory.  
  
He thinks of the man  
the world calls his father,  
beheaded by a Southron king.  
  
When he looks down at the wild woman  
with her hair the color of fire,  
the color of blood,  
he thinks of another girl  
with dreams of spring weather  
and a prince.  
  
Did she stand helplessly  
when their father lost his head?  
Did she see his life  
stain the sword  
like Jon imagines his Longclaw  
wounding the wild?  
  
Winter is cruel,  
he decides,  
and cold,  
but he lets her go  
enjoying the pristine  
white snow.

**Author's Note:**

> Please kudo and comment! :)


End file.
